I have 2 brothers that work for a high end audio visual company. One's a programmer, and the other is an installer. When I was looking for a new TV a couple years ago, I asked them for advice, and then blatantly ignored it. lol. Then they come over and laugh at my setup(but still admit I got a decent TV). Kind of like how I can go over to their homes and critique their yards, Everyone has their specialties. Sounds like you know what the heck you're talking about, D. How long have you been doing the installer thing?

@YodaYeah, the wall thing can be a pain, but honestly, a good mount and a stud finder, you'd only make MAYBE 4 holes in the wall, more if you're talking a swivel mount. A little plaster and some touch up paint and it's like the holes were never there. Plus, you can buy some wire molding, hide all your cableage, and have the sexiest looking tv in your group of buds. If you really wanna be a badass, check out the new sonos speaker bar, unless you want real surround sound in which case you should get a good home entertainment system and a sonos hookup, or even better a sonos speaker system. If I sound like a sonos rep, I work for a dealer, so I technically am :). The stuff is great though, but the amps are a bit shitty, so avoid them.

@grimProfessionally, I've been an a/v installer for about 5 years alongside my father. Not so professionally, we've been setting up home sound systems for years, probably 15 or so. He's an audio engineer for 30+ years, and has worked concerts, stages, all sorts of venues as a sound guy. He's sort of "legally crippled" though, so now I do the work, he's just a consultant and advisor. I've got a pretty decent understanding of analog and digital signals, carpentry , networking to a degree, and he's got a grasp of sound that you'd get from years of musical background, as well as a background in carpentry and electrical work, video, and telecommunication (though his IT knowledge is lacking, he is an old man after all). We do pretty well, and one thing I picked up from him is don't be a dick about what you know. Share the knowledge. If anyone's ever curious about how to approach home audio and video like that, feel free to shoot me a pm, I'll try to help best I can.

I don't know what pisses me off more right now: my inability to take a great picture of myself or social requirement that I do so. You see, I just started writing for a new magazine and they have this thing were they post a snapshot of a writer and some entertaining info about him. Or in my one case: her. Normally this wouldn't be too bad, but there is this female columnist, the only other woman who writes for this mag... She has one page every month and half of that page is filled with a (professional) photograph. She must have spend atleast an hour in hair and make up and by the looks of it she had some assistance of mr. photoshop as well. I can never look that great without the help she has had. And I know it's fake and me just smiling and looking friendly would be real, but would the readers (mostly males age 18-35) know and appreciate that? And should I care? I know I shouldn't, but it's hard not to. I was bullied for many years and I can't say I'm all that confident...

Putting a picture of yourself out in the public is always a hard thing to do, especiallg if you've been nullied about your appearance when you were younger. It's been hard on me posting the couple of photos here that I have, nevermind on something like facebook...or a magazine. Power to you if you decide to, and honestly the only critic you need to appreciate what you did is yourself. However, I'm fairly certain that myself and pretty much everyone here would be impressed with such an act, knowing how you feel about it. Look at it this way, how many of the jackoffs that bullied you can say they're important enough to appear in a widely viewed media format?

We do pretty well, and one thing I picked up from him is don't be a dick about what you know. Share the knowledge. If anyone's ever curious about how to approach home audio and video like that, feel free to shoot me a pm, I'll try to help best I can.

Bolded for emphasis. I agree with this, which is why I am on my way to becoming a Master Gardener. I get to share what I love with a huge swath of the populace I never had access to before. Very exciting. I find it's important not to go overboard, though, or people will just think you're a know-it-all. We're all pretty bad ass at something. It's all about HOW we choose to share(or not) that knowledge.

I don't know what pisses me off more right now: my inability to take a great picture of myself or social requirement that I do so. You see, I just started writing for a new magazine and they have this thing were they post a snapshot of a writer and some entertaining info about him. Or in my one case: her. Normally this wouldn't be too bad, but there is this female columnist, the only other woman who writes for this mag... She has one page every month and half of that page is filled with a (professional) photograph. She must have spend atleast an hour in hair and make up and by the looks of it she had some assistance of mr. photoshop as well. I can never look that great without the help she has had. And I know it's fake and me just smiling and looking friendly would be real, but would the readers (mostly males age 18-35) know and appreciate that? And should I care? I know I shouldn't, but it's hard not to. I was bullied for many years and I can't say I'm all that confident...

Tomara, you're post kind of saddens me. I recall, in the rare picture or two you've posted of yourself, you being a perfectly pleasant looking lady. That society would make you, and many others(including me!), so self-conscious about themselves is such an unfortunate thing. Personally, I far prefer the non-doctored, more normal looking poses, for these types of things. I'd like to think I'm reading from the mind of a real person, not a construct. I say this, but I also have issues with sharing pictures of myself. I was bullied also for many years. Being a skinny little geek who sucked at sports made me an easy target. Throw in horrible acne all the way through college, and you get the picture. It all made me extremely skittish about presenting myself to people. To this day, even though I am much more confident in who I am, I still don't like using my picture anywhere. Like on FB or other social media sites. I always go with some image that represents something I like or find cool rather than an actual photo. It's really hard to break out of the habit of self-deprecation, but I encourage you to just go ahead and post up a regular photo of yourself. Perhaps one with you smiling if you have one. I think you'll be surprised at how people react, if they do at all. The gamer scene can be pretty cruel about some things, but also surprisingly accepting with a lot more.

Thanks you two, I needed that. I send in a picture and the editor-in-chief liked it. He told me: We already have a [name of columnist] and don't need another. The manga in the background of the photo lead to a conversation about comics in general. Turns out he's an avid reader of comics as well. So at the very least that went excellent.

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The gamer scene can be pretty cruel about some things, but also surprisingly accepting with a lot more.

Which is kind of what worries me. Most gamers I know are nice and considerate, but there's a group of sexist bastards out there who never grew out of their exclusive treehouse mentality. I normally stay far away from them, but I don't know if I will be able to in this case. I might get nasty reactions and although I know they are childish and shouldn't be taken seriously, it's not the kind of welcome that will give me a confidence boost.

So while I do feel good about finding the courage to send in that picture, I still kinda wish I wasn't asked for one. Two of the other magazines I write/wrote for just gave everyone an avatar to hide behind. In [N]Gamer we used Mii's and in Aniway we all have mangafied versions of ourselves in cosplay drawn by a professional artist. Well, it's crossplay in my case, I guess. I'm dressed like Jomy from Toward the Terra.

Gamers aren't exempt.from having idiots. It's kinda like what I used to say about racism. You can be any color, gender, or ethnicty, if you have a butt you can still be an asshole.

My chest is still tight from my last workout on monday, but tight like I could push a fucking tank. I look forward to my birthday this year, because I have a goal of bench pressing 300 pounds. Might be time for a new avatar soon...

I just received a call from someone I know.A close friend of mine died. He felt sick and fell in a comma when he got to the hospital. His organs failed him in less than a couple of hours and they unplugged him.He was 32...

I just received a call from someone I know.A close friend of mine died. He felt sick and fell in a comma when he got to the hospital. His organs failed him in less than a couple of hours and they unplugged him.He was 32...

I'm so sorry. Whether I know them or not, I hate when I hear about young people passing away.

Well I'm pissed. Just got word that Jmanga is closing. Jmanga, in case you don't know, is a digital manga service started by the same people behind Crunchyroll. Unlike Crunchyroll, however, it never really caught on. Also unlike Crunchyroll (and this may have to do with the first part...) you didn't simply pay a subscription service to access all the content. You had to actually buy individual titles. They were cheaper than physical books, sure, but not that much cheaper.

I took a chance with the service because I thought it was a good idea (there's actually surprisingly little English manga available legally digitally) even though I always thought the pricy model was kind of wonky. And here's my reward: when it shuts down on May 30th I won't be able to access any of the titles I purchased ever again. And didn't purchase a small number of titles. That's a fair chunk of change that's just been thrown down the drain.